April 6, 2011
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - With the regular season winding down, the Cleveland State men's tennis team hits the road for the final time in the regular season when the Vikings play a pair of key league contests this weekend.
CSU opens the trip with a match at Wright State on Saturday (April 9) and continues the trek on Sunday (April 10) at Butler. Both matches will begin at 10:00 a.m.
The Vikings enter the weekend with an overall record of 10-7 and are in first place in the Horizon League at 4-0. CSU will also attempt to keep its streak of consecutive wins against league opponents in tact, having won 29 straight against Horizon League foes.
Two wins this weekend would also give the Vikings their fourth straight regular season Horizon League title.
"The streak has been great, but we are not focused on that right now," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We want to go out and play our best tennis every time we take the court and control each and every match right from that start. That is how we are going to be successful and achieve our goals this season.
"We have been improving each and every time we have taken the court this season and I expect us to keep improving. Our goal is to win another league title, but we know that won't come easy so we have to come out focused and maintain our intensity every point we play."
Last week, the Vikings stayed perfect in the league and extended their win streak against league foes to 29 win a 7-0 win over Valparaiso on Saturday (April 2) and a 6-1 win over UIC on Sunday (April 3) in a rematch of the last three league title matches, all won by CSU.
"I felt like we were in control of both matches right from the start," Etzkin said. "We have been playing some great doubles over the last few weeks and that's a good sign because being able to secure that point gives us a lot of momentum heading into singles."
In the UIC match, the Vikings won two of the three three-set singles contests as freshmen Matt Kuelker (No. 3) and Matt Ford (No. 6) picked up wins.
"Our freshmen in the lineup have been improving all season long and are really starting to establish themselves," Etzkin said.
Junior Yannick Goossens swept his matches last weekend, winning a pair of matches at No. 1 singles, as well as one match apiece at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles en route to earning Horizon League Player of the Week honors.
It was Goossens' first honor of the season.
"Goose has really picked up his play of late and is playing like a No. 1 player," Etzkin said. "He knows that every time he goes out there, he is getting our opponents top player and he continues to get stronger as the season progresses."
Goossens is tied for second on the team with John Haley with 18 singles wins, one behind senior Rob Fox who has won 19 times. Fox is one victory shy of becoming the second player in program history to win 20 matches in four straight seasons (Phil Orno).
In addition, Fox has teamed with Haley for 24 doubles wins this year, needing three more to break the CSU single season record for most doubles wins in a season.
